Mother's eyes
by BriliantLight
Summary: The folks of Little Hangleton had one story told over and over about that fateful night. But none of them actually knew what happened...


_I don't own Harry Potter, this idea popped into my head a few months ago and I had to write it down. Please enjoy!_

If the people of Little Hangleton had known what was going to transpire on that clear summer night they would have been surprised, disgusted, and somewhat happy all at the same time. The Riddles were a family that no one liked, they were snobbish and rude to anyone they thought were 'lesser' than themselves and the entire village knew it. Mr. and Mrs. Riddle were unliked, but their son Tom was utterly deplored, none of them could think of another person so insufferably intolerable. It was hard for them to think that he had been engaged to Cecilia Jenkinson, that thought, they decided, was insane.

After that fateful night, however, even the most ridiculed by the Riddles could find some empathy for them, for it was devastating for the entire family...

* * *

Tom was getting ready for supper. He'd been in his office upstairs, sitting in front of the fire and reading, waiting for the bell to ring calling the family to eat. When it did, he noticed that it was a few minutes ahead of its normal schedule. "Finally catching up, are they?" he mumbled to himself and began his way downstairs to the dining room, already dressed to eat.

As he passed the many portraits of his family and ancestors, he heard a strange noise. It sounded a bit like his mother... But that couldn't be, his mind must have been playing tricks on him. After all, it had been since... since the incident.

He pushed open the dining-room door and stopped dead in his tracks.

Standing right in front of him were his parents, a scared and confused look on their faces. His mother glanced at him and cried his name out, in a high pitched tone he had only heard once: when he had fallen out of a tree as a child.

His father put an arm around her to keep her from dashing into his arms, Tom glanced from them to what was terrifying them.

A teenage boy sat on the other end of the room, he had one of his legs crossed over the other and a stick held limply in his hand. To Tom, he looked vaguely familiar, he seemed to have seen him before.

"Ah, there you are." the boy said, tilting his head to one side. "All the Riddles in one room, I guess you could call it an enigma."

Tom breathed through his nostrils loudly, "Who are you?" he said, trying to sound brave, but he was sure it wasn't convincing.

"Well, that's a hard question to answer," he straitened his head again and ran the fingers of his non-stick holding hand through his blackish-brown hair. "I'm- Well, let's just say I'm the heir."

"The heir of what?" Thomas Riddle said, he seemed to have grown a backbone since Tom came into the room.

"Many things." the boy answered nonchelauntly as if it clarified everything. "Well, if you must know," he added, "My name is Tom, and I'm here to get what I deserve."

"And you expect to get that from us?" Mary asked, trying to sound as brave as her husband and son, but still wincing as the other Tom glared at her.

"Of course I do." the other Tom said, his voice laced with venom now, "I deserve it after all."

"We don't even know who you are!" Thomas pointed out, "How on earth do you deserve anything from us!"

The other Tom hissed, further cementing Tom's idea that he was partially a snake, and finally stood up. Pointing the stick at Thomas' and Mary's faces. Tom tried to get closer to his parents, but the other Tom cut him off.

"Not one step." Tom two hissed. "When you left her, you didn't leave her alone."

It took Tom a moment to realize what this boy was saying, and when he did his eyes widened. Shock and horror overwhelmed him, and he started to breathe irregularly.

"Tom?" Mary asked quietly, she had seen his reaction, and there was fear in her voice and face.

"Son," Thomas said, but the other Tom calmly said "_Petrifcus Totalus_."  
Thomas' body went as stiff as a board, and he fell backward onto the floor.

Before Mary could scream Tom turned the stick to her and said "_Avada Kedavra!_" Instead of stiffening Mary went limp and dropped to the floor looking horrified.

Tom was still, the pieces clicked together. "You're... you're..."

Other Tom smiled calmly and pointed his stick at Thomas. "_Avada Kedavra_," he repeated, and Thomas' stiff body went limp like Mary's.

"I'm what?" he said sweetly and tilted his head to the side again. "Please tell me."

Tom took a second to regain his composure and tried to keep his eyes away from his parents. "You're... You're that freak's son!"

The other Tom deflated a little, like a balloon on the inside had just popped. "Of course I am, and you're that freak's husband."

He took the long way to stand in front of Tom, by going around the corpses of his parents. "I'm the heir of Slytherin, I'm the heir of all of your things. I"m the heir of Hogwarts, and magic itself. I'm everything, no thanks to you."

He pushed the stick, which must be a wand, up into Tom's chin. Father and son stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity to Tom.

But finally the other Tom spoke, and the tone of his voice chilled Tom to the bone.

"You know, they say 'the eyes are the window to the soul'." Tom two put his wand away from Tom's chin and onto his chest.

"It's funny really," his son whispered, "I look exactly like you,

"But I have my mother's eyes."

* * *

The outside of the Riddle manor was quiet. A bird sat on a branch, picking away at a stray bug it had caught, but it jumped up at a startling green light that flashed from the house. A moment later, however, a young man came out of the back door and noticed the bird. They stared at each other for a moment until the boy lifted a finger to his lips and whispered 'shh'.

The bird paid him no more attention and the young man walked away, down the road to an old shack, and then disappeared.

* * *

The people of Little Hangleton talked about what they knew of the story for decades after it happened, various opinions came from the legend but none of them were true. But they all agreed on something...

The Riddles might have deserved it.


End file.
